The theory behind wearing compression garments is that compression will facilitate venous return to the heart. The physiologic basis is that  that arterial blood flows flows in a high pressure system (e.g. above 120mmhg) while venous blood returns to the heart in a low pressure system (e.g. below 20mmhg). Normally muscular contractions and movement pump the venous blood to the heart. Compression is applied at a level of pressure (measured in mmHg)  to assist venous return to the heart without impeding flow in the arterial system. In addition to improved blood flow, other mechanisms for the benefit of compression include enhanced proprioception and reduced muscle oscillation during exercise.

The benefits claimed by the manufacturers of compression clothing are that compression improves performance and enhances recovery.

The research – what the science says.

To our knowledge, extensive, rigorous, peer reviewed, clinical data is not available to either definitively refute or support the use of compression during endurance events such as a stand up paddle race or long paddle training session.

A recent review of the literature  shows no benefit (1). Other research(2)  concludes that there is a benefit to the athlete and that benefit is improved recovery when compression is worn during or after training. In our opinion, however, the research is preliminary and may not apply to endurance athletes such as SUP or prone paddlers.

For example, in a recent review  of the literature (2) that demonstrated a positive effect of wearing compression, 12 studies were evaluated and those studies looked at exercise such as “70 eccentric contractions of non-dominant elbow flexors, 5 x 20 drop jumps, standardized whole body resistance exercise protocol, 10 x 10 plyometric drop jumps, 2 x 50 arm curls, etc.” In our opinion, further research is necessary to determine if these studies extrapolate to performance during a paddle endurance event or during endurance  paddle training.

There is some promising research from the Australian Institute of Sport as they have found a positive benefit of compression when athletes performed repeated bouts of exercise(3,4). Only one of these studies, however, evaluated an endurance activity  (3) which was a repeated 30 minute cycling trial with a 60 minute rest between cycling activity. Again, we do not know how this research translates  to a longer endurance event,  recovery from activity after a 24 hour rest, etc.  Additionally, according to the authors, these studies are not well controlled (3,4).

Our summary on the research at of the time of the writing of this article (September 2013) is that there is some promising research but the research we have available at this time is preliminary and may not extrapolate to endurance paddling. The paddler is advised, however,  that because we do not have hard scientific evidence showing a benefit at this time, we cannot definitively discount the value of compression. It is certainly possible that the research has not yet been performed and future research will demonstrate a benefit of compression.

The anecdotal evidence

If you live in a town like San Diego, you would think that compression is as important as water or air as every other person is paddling, running, or biking in compression garments. It is not uncommon to see people sitting around in coffee shops wearing compression tights. In our bubble, the overwhelming response from athletes that wear compression is that they report a positive response for compression with recovery. In nearly all cases, athletes report that “compression feels good.”

We do not know how this “good feeling” translates into performance or recovery but athletes swear by their compression garments. If the only benefit is that the athletes like compression and that makes them work harder, sleep better, or has some other effect (even psychological) we are not going to get in the way of their recovery and their compression.

One issue when shopping for compression

The  level of compression a garment offers is not generally reported in consumer products so you really do not know what you are buying. Moreover, it is nearly impossible to compare products from different manufacturers.  Medical grade compression is sold with a label stating the mmHg of compression that the garment will apply. Consumer grade compression is not generally sold with this degree of transparency. Paddlers are cautioned when purchasing compression that all compression garments are not created equal and just because they word “compression” is used on a garment label, there is no assurance that the garment will deliver a level of compression that may result in a benefit to recovery or performance.  Buyer beware.

Two scenarios where compression is unequivocally useful to the paddler.

In your every day life,  the contraction of the muscles in the lower limb (e.g when you move and walk) promote venous return to the heart. If you are sitting for a prolonged period of time and your muscles are not contracting there will be venous stasis in your extremities which can lead to edema. Many athletes encounter this situation during airplane flights. If you are flying to a race, in our experience, wearing compression during transit will help prevent edema which can lead to improved performance.

One unequivocal benefit that compression offers to the prone paddler while paddling is that compression is an excellent way  keep your waterproof iPod nano from sliding down your leg while paddling. If you wear compression you will not need a pocket in your shirt to store your iPod and you won’t need to worry about an iPod clipped to your shirt or hat falling off if you get hammered by waves on the way in to shore. In our experience, compression functions better than standard jammers worn under your board shorts to prevent iPod slippage.

The bottom line:

The bottom line for us is that wearing compression won’t make or break your race, your season, or your workout. Although hard science looking at endurance events such as paddling is lacking, there is too much anecdotal evidence to ignore compression altogether. It is possible that wearing compression just feels good and that is why so many athletes swear by it. It is possible that compression does something with regard to recovery that we are unable to measure in the lab. It is possible that the lab rats have simply not performed the research looking at prolonged endurance events. We just do not know at this time and are willing to leave that door open as it is difficult to reconcile the paucity of scientific data from the overwhelming positive anecdotal evidence.

If you want to try compression, we encourage you to do so. If, however, you are planning to cut 5 hours of training each week and replace that with a compression garment you need to get back on the board and start paddling.

1.MacRae, BA et al. Compression garments and exercise. Garment considerations, physiology, and performance. Sports Med 2011:41(10):815-843.

2. Hill, J, et al. Compression garments and recovery from exercise induced muscle damage: a meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med 2013;0:1-7. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2013-092456 (http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2013/06/10/bjsports-2013-092456.abstract)

3. Driller M and Halson S. The effects of lower body compression garments on recovery between exercise bouts in highly trained cyclists, J Sci Cycling. Vol 2(1), 45-50.

4. Cargus, CK et al. The effects of 4 different recovery strategies on repeat sprint cycling performance. International Journal of Physiology and Performance, 2013, 8, 542-548.